Axial skeleton ontogeny in the Parasuchia (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) and its implications for ontogenetic determination in archosaurs
Author:
Top Cited Papers
- 12 June 2007
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
- Vol. 27 (2) , 350-361
Abstract
The sequence of neurocentral suture closure is one criterion for the determination of ontogenetic stage in extant crocodylians. This pattern is frequently used to assess ontogeny for a variety of fossil archosaurs that may or may not follow the same sequence and timing of suture closure. Phytosaurs are one of the few basal archosaur groups with a sample size large enough to help test whether the crocodylian pattern of suture closure is plesiomorphic for Pseudosuchia and Archosauria. Analysis of a large sample of North American phytosaur specimens confirms that phytosaurs share the crocodylian state of closure, and so this pattern is probably plesiomorphic for the Pseudosuchia. An additional independent ontogenetic trend observed in phytosaurs is that the lateral fossae on cervical vertebrae in phytosaurs deepen with ontogeny. A preliminary survey indicates that there is considerable variation of both the sequence and timing of neurocentral suture closure in other archosaur clades. Therefore, it i...Keywords
This publication has 49 references indexed in Scilit:
- Description ofPrenoceratops pieganensisgen. et sp. nov. (Dinosauria: Neoceratopsia) from the Two Medicine Formation of MontanaJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2004
- Phylogenetic Approaches Toward Crocodylian HistoryAnnual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 2003
- Osteology of Tyrannosaurus rex: Insights from a Nearly Complete Skeleton and High-Resolution Computed Tomographic Analysis of the SkullMemoir. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2003
- Erpetosuchus, a crocodile-like basal archosaur from the Late Triassic of Elgin, ScotlandZoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002
- The earliest known sauropod dinosaurNature, 2000
- Montanoceratops cerorhynchus(Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) and relationships among basal neoceratopsiansJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 1998
- Closure of neurocentral sutures during crocodilian ontogeny: Implications for maturity assessment in fossil archosaursJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 1996
- Heterochrony in the Crocodylian ScapulocoracoidJournal of Herpetology, 1995
- Size-independent criteria for estimating relative age inOphiacodonandDimetrodon(Reptilia, Pelycosauria) from the Admiral and lower Belle Plains formations of west-central TexasJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 1988
- THE STRUCTURE AND RELATIONSHIPS OF PROTOCERATOPSAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1940